Updates

When Pamela Teaster envisioned a leadership program in gerontology, the world had not yet been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. But now the certificate program’s launch this fall coincides with a time when policies for the aging population are more critical than ever. That’s why an influential advocate from Washington, D.C., is teaching the inaugural class.

Recent reports by multiple Western intelligence agencies indicate that Russia, and now China, are engaged in sustained espionage operations against universities and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. surrounding COVID-19 vaccine research.

That was the overarching message of an hourlong webinar on Tuesday that explored the university’s approach to graduate education this fall.

University leaders are reviewing operational strategies to protect public health on campus, with a goal of resuming in-person instruction and experiential learning opportunities for the fall semester. Leaders are considering the strategies as the university prepares for an expected June 8 announcement on fall semester plans.

In the U.S., we are evidently near the peak of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We may have seen the worst that this disease can bring, but we are not yet confident that every day from here on will be better than the last.